Minutes:
A question was received from Cilla De Lande Long
My question relates to Item 13B on today’s agenda. This motion proposes the re-establishment of the Sustainability and Climate Change Panel. However, I notice that the Sustainability Strategy adopted by Council in March 2018 had already agreed that this Panel would be reconvened ‘advising on progress to the sustainability programme of work’. What happened between March last year and the present; and how can the failure to action this plan over the last 15 months give residents any confidence that Council takes seriously the impacts of climate change and gives high priority to scrutiny of its actions on this issue?
Response from Councillor John Belsey, Cabinet Member for Environment and Service Delivery
I thank you for your question about this very important priority for the Council.
Our Sustainability Strategy is a five-year plan running from 2018 to 2023. A set of measures and targets, including Green House Gas emissions, underpins the Plan. Of course, not all actions happen at once. They are planned over the five-year period.
We have now reached the point where we have a new Council and are setting up the Sustainability and Climate Change Panel. Setting up this panel was due to be done once the relevant national legislation, such as the Environment Act, was enacted. However, after a year of positive actions we have decided not to wait.
Our progress in delivering the Strategy was reported to the Scrutiny Committee for Leader, Resources and Economic Growth on 12th March 2019 and I trust you will find that this is a rewarding read.
Some of our positive actions include:
• significantly reducing the use of single-use plastics. This has included the Refill campaign, with over 50 cafes and pubs signed up in Mid Sussex to provide free water bottle refills.
• reducing our electricity use from 2017 to 2018 by 16% and producing nearly 24,000 kWh of solar electricity from our PV panels.
• Agreeing a £180,000 investment programme for expanding electric vehicle charging points in public car parks.
• Expanding our green waste collection service to 19,212 subscribers
• Working with the Local Energy Advice Partnership to support 250 people switching to the Sussex Energy Tariff which uses Sussex produced green energy.
We have been far from complacent in the last year. This council is committed to sustainability and I will be front and centre as we implement our Sustainability Strategy for the benefit of all of our communities.
A supplementary question was asked by Cilla de Lande Long regarding the Council’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions in terms of housing development. She noted that a recent development in Scaynes Hill was agreed in 2018 with no requirement for renewable energy and asked when Council will begin to enforce this commitment. The Cabinet Member noted that the District Plan policy DP39 called for sustainable design and construction ‘where appropriate and feasible’ and agreed to provide a written response after further investigation into the planning application for the Scaynes Hill development.